The SuperPaint system was a custom computer system built around a
Data General Nova 800 minicomputer CPU and a hand-wired
shift register framebuffer. This system had 311,040
bytes (303.75
KiB) of memory and was capable of storing 640 by 480 pixels of data with
8 bits of color depth. The memory was scattered across 16
circuit boards, each loaded with multiple 2-
kilobit shift register chips. While workable, this design required that the total framebuffer be implemented as a 307,200 byte shift register that shifted in synchronization with the television output signal. The primary drawback to this scheme was that memory was not
random access. Rather, a given position could be accessed only when the desired
scan-line and pixel time rolled around. This gave the system a maximum latency of 33
ms for writing to the framebuffer. Also included in the SuperPaint configuration was an 8-bit video
digitizer, and direct conversion to standard
NTSC video. The system is now in the permanent collection of the
Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. ==References==